Those Close to Giffords Share Struggles and Successes of Recovery

“She was thinking of it like she couldn’t believe it,” Poteet said. “She kept saying, ‘I want so bad,’ and she was trying to talk about it. But it was too many thoughts in one.”

Kelly hasn’t told Giffords that the shooting victims included her aide, Gabe Zimmerman, Judge John Roll and 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green. He said he wants her to get to the point where she doesn’t have to fight so hard to find the right words to express her grief.

“The challenge is she knows what she wants to say, and she knows everything that’s going on around her” but can’t always express it, Pia Carusone, her chief of staff, told the newspaper. “It’s frustrating for her. She’ll sigh out of exasperation.”

Kim made clear that Giffords is far from outpatient rehabilitation, and Carusone said some days Giffords doesn’t believe she will make more progress.

Other days are better.

“When I tell her that she’s not going to be in a wheelchair forever, she believes that,” Kelly said. “Right now she gets up and takes a couple steps. I think she’ll probably use a wheelchair for, I don’t know, maybe another three months.